Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Is Speed Reading For Everyone?

"Is Speed Reading For Everyone?"," The straightforward answer to this question is: ""yes"".

Below we set out some of the circumstances under which it may be beneficial to be able to speed read and other circumstances where it may not be so beneficial to be able to speed read:

When it is beneficial to speed read

Essentially, the great joy of being able to speed read is the ability to take in large volumes of data over as short a period as possible.
Such persons include:

* School students:

School students are ideal candidates for speed reading skills because they are at an age where they can still absorb new concepts and ideas, whilst also having the need to have advanced reading skills in order to be able to read lots of school texts;

* College students:

As with school students, college students need to be able to read lots of textbook material in a short space of time.

* Work employees:

Those of us who are working ""white-collar"" clerical jobs certainly need to have the ability to speed read as this will cut-down on an otherwise very long day.
being able to speed read becomes more important as time progresses, not less!

* English language students:

As speed reading skills enable you to comprehend what you are reading better, English language students are an often quoted group of people who benefit from the ability to be able to speed read.
Can you image trying to read Sunday's paper without speed reading skills? - Well, it simply cannot be done these days!

In short, it doesn't really matter what stage of your life you are at, the ability to be able to speed read is an essential one.
These include:

* If you have a reading problem:

Speed reading techniques use cluster methods.
However, if a person has a reading disability that doesn't allow them to be able to process the clustering of paragraphs easily, then this may result in a feeling of embarrassment, discomfort, or even slowness.

* Age:

Care needs to be taken at what age a student starts to learn to speed read as certain clinical studies have shown that students who try to learn to speed read too early can be left with counterproductive problems - such as dyslexia.

* Comprehension:

In certain circumstances some readers who speed read are left with a loss of comprehension of the reading material, rather than more.

To sum it up, like most things in life, the ability to speed read is something most of us should try to conquer, which is not to say that it is necessarily beneficial to all of us, nor that we should invoke it at all times.